KPFA Women's Magazine Show Call For Support

Dear listeners, friends and supporters of Women's Magazine,

Near the end of January 2009, Women's Magazine producers learned that Women's Magazine, the show we have been bringing to you--our valued community--since June 2005, was abruptly being pre-empted so that KPFA could air a "special": Letters from Washington: The First 100 Days. This means we will be off the air until the end of April.

We at Women's Magazine know how much you appreciate, rely on and value the only program airing on KPFA that is about, by and for women. Some of you are listeners, some of you have been guest on our show, some of you have contributed to our show, and all of us feel women's issues need coverage on KPFA. Many of you have already telephoned the station, expressing your concern and inquiring about why Women's Magazine is not on the air since there has been no explanation given about this change. We at Women's Magazine are deeply concerned and completely uninformed as to why Women's Magazine has been selected for replacement by Letters from Washington. Not only are we very disappointed that there will be less coverage of gender issues for the next 3 months on KPFA we are unclear what that means for KPFA's commitment to these issues and don't know what their future plans are at the end of the 100 days.

It is important that as listeners, friends and supporters of Women's Magazine, your voices are heard and represented.

While we are attempting to discuss this decision with our interim program manager Sasha Lilly to express our objections to this process and ask for an explanation of their decision we need your support to show to KPFA that we are not the only one's who are concerned about gender issues being present on KPFA. We would like to present them with letters of support from our listeners, to show that women's programming is important to KPFA's "base."

Please take a few minutes to send a letter of support in the next few days. A sample letter follows, but if you can spare the time to write your own, letting them know which segments you have heard on Women's Magazine that you particularly valued, or how Women's Magazine has been of importance to you. It will help us a lot to keep our show. You can also help by circulating this request to other supporters of the show.

Please write to:
ipd [at] kpfa.org (Interim Programme Director, Sasha Lilly), with ccs to
womensmagazine@ kpfa.org, gm [at] kpfa.org (General Manager, Lemlem Rijio), ameliagg@yahoo. com (Arts and Humanities Director, Amelia Gonzalez), and to me at cositas1 [at] comcast.net.

You should also feel free to express your disappointment by calling KPFA at:

510-848-6767

x209 (Sasha Lilly, Interim Program Manager)

x203 (Lemlem Rijio, General Manager)

Please help us to make sure Women's Magazine continues to thrive on the airwaves at KPFA. We can not succeed without you.

Regards,

Lisa Dettmer, Rivian Berlin, Yvette Hochberg, Eryn Matthewson, Safi wa Nairobi, Kate Raphael, Jovelyn Richards, Preeti Managala Shekar, Meri Simon


SAMPLE LETTER- PLEASE PERSONALIZE


KPFA Program director:

I am deeply disappointed in the KPFA management team's decision to take Women's Magazine off the air for three months. Women's Magazine is the only show on the KPFA airwaves that is explicitly feminist and consistently puts women's issues in the forefront. It has been a source of support to the feminist community in the Bay Area and beyond and consistently covers issues that no other show on KPFA does. Women's Magazine has also brought in a range of women's voices that are not often heard on KPFA. It is particularly upsetting that the only specifically women's program is taken off the air just in time for Women's History Month. (please include what women's magazine has meant to you) In the past there was an entire women's department at KPFA. It seems that KPFA is now moving away from its commitment to gender and women's issues , feminism and alternative media subjects.

I ( am a member/ listener of KPFA ) and support KPFA because it is a democratic alternative to mainstream media . But your decision to eliminate the only hour of women's programming on your airwaves, a show that is produced by a multicultural, multigenerational group of volunteer programmers, calls into question your commitment to that alternative vision. ( makes me reconsider my support for KPFA )

I urge you to reconsider your decision to replace Women's Magazine and to find another slot for Letters from Washington. If that is not possible, I do trust that you will bring back Women's Magazine at the end of the 100 Days and demonstrate more support for this show .